


Tanni

by lorspolairepeluche



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Adoption, Bull's Chargers, Gen, Other, Post-Trespasser, still bad at the tagging thing., this fic could also be called "zev and ari sort-of-accidentally adopt a kid"
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-17
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-10-06 18:10:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10341336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lorspolairepeluche/pseuds/lorspolairepeluche
Summary: An orphan mage from the Tantervale alienage finds herself, by sheer chance, the ward of one of the deadliest--and kindest--couples in Thedas.





	1. The Orphan

Food was never hard to come by on the day after a holiday. The nobles always had more made than they could eat, the servants–humans and elves alike–snuck the extras to their families, and no alienage family would leave an orphan unfed, especially if that orphan used her big brown eyes to their fullest advantage.

Tanni picked off another piece of meat from the hunk and popped it into her mouth. She wasn’t really sure what kind of meat it was. It wasn’t quite tough enough to be pork, too dark to be chicken. Beef, maybe. Or mutton. It was the best food she’d had in months.

“In here.”

Tanni froze mid-chew when she heard the urgent whisper and the footsteps coming toward her. A split second later, she dove around the corner of the alleyway, looking frantically around for a better hiding spot. She ducked behind a wall of rotted wood that might have once been part of a shack like any other in the alienage, just as two people came around the corner.

Tanni peered out at them as they all but collapsed against the wall she hid behind. The shorter one recovered first, moving to crouch over the other, making some sign with their hands.

“You first, _mi amore._ ” The other one was the one who had spoken earlier, and he–his voice sounded like a he–reached out to touch the smaller one’s face under their hood. “That wound is starting to sap your strength. Can’t have my healer passing out on me.” His accent was definitely foreign, though not so different from those of the Antivans who sometimes came through Tantervale.

The shorter figure shook their head, but they put a hand over a darker spot where their neck met their shoulder. Tanni froze again when she saw light between the person’s fingers. When they took their hand away, was the dark spot maybe a little less?

Her wonder only heightened when the figure finally tossed back their hood to reveal brown hair cut short, a mess of freckles–and pointed ears. This person–this mage–was an elf like her.

The elf signed again, and their companion laughed. “Can’t you just kiss it better?”

The elf rolled their eyes and pushed his hand out of the way, replacing it with their own. As the light below their hand glowed again, though, they leaned in and kissed him on the mouth. Tanni hadn’t seen many people do that, and certainly not like these two, not soft and lingering.

It was several seconds until the light faded and the elf pulled back. Their companion leaned his head out of the alleyway. “We seem to have lost them. I don’t think they were the most competent of guards.” He pushed himself to his feet using the wall Tanni hid behind–she had to lean back to avoid it hitting her as it bent a little under the pressure–and held his hand out. “We should find the others.” His ears were pointed too.

The shorter elf accepted his help in getting up, standing on tiptoe to kiss his cheek before they started out of the alley together.

Tanni waited only a few seconds before following.

It wasn’t hard to follow the taller elf’s head of blond hair through the alienage. She hesitated only a second as they went back into the humans’ part of town–the same second the other two did to pull up their hoods. That would make it harder to follow them. But Tanni was determined, and she followed the distinctive bare feet of the shorter elf. Not many outside the alienage went around barefoot.

Tanni hid again when she heard a deep voice call, “Hey! Ari! Zevran!” Her quarries looked up, and the blond one breathed a distinctive sigh of relief.

“We were beginning to wonder if you had left us behind, The Iron Bull,” he quipped. He followed the voice, tugging his partner along; Tanni followed him–until she stopped short at the sight of who they were talking to.

He had to be a clear seven feet tall, maybe more, with a pair of horns stretching out over a foot to either side of his head. The one next to him was only a little shorter, with horns hugging her head until they stuck out to two points at the back. “We were looking for you,” she said, clearly worried. “What happened?”

“A couple of the city guards did not take kindly to a pair of elves wandering around outside the alienage,” the blond one replied.

The horned woman rolled her eyes. “Ugh, they should all know by now that we’re working for their Lord Chancellor.”

“Now, now, Saraan, you know that no Maker-fearing city guard of Tantervale can _abide_ any breaking of Chantry law! The elves must stay in the alienage!” The blond one’s voice dripped sarcasm.

“Come on, _kadan._ Better get back to the others and get out. Our job’s done; we’ve been paid, and they don’t like us here. Shouldn’t overstay our welcome.” The biggest one indicated the nearest way out of the city with a jerk of his head.

The small elf signed something at him, and he looked up for a moment, scanning the area around. Tanni ducked back behind a building just in time. _He has an eyepatch._ She’d only heard of eyepatches in tales of pirates. Were they pirates? What were pirates doing this far up the Minanter?

When she peered out again, the four of them were starting to walk away. She followed, darting to hide from building to building, determining which of the horned ones’ packs she would tuck herself into when she got the chance. The big one’s pack looked like it had some space, and he was carrying it easily. His it was, then.

The city gradually ended, Tanni having to hide behind trees rather than buildings now, still following the four of them. The big one seemed in a good mood, joking and laughing with the others. His partner, the horned woman, was casting looks behind them every several seconds, as if making sure they weren’t leaving anyone behind–or being followed, Tanni thought with a drop of her stomach.

But they kept going. Tanni could smell woodsmoke now, and something cooking. Her mouth watered, and her stomach nearly grumbled. She’d forgotten her food in her focus on the two elves.

They turned a corner, and suddenly they had arrived at a camp. Tents were pitched in a circle around a fire, over which a pot hung and a human turned two spits with some kind of game roasting on them. A chorus of greetings rang out when the four of them entered the circle, and the big horned man accepted them jovially.

“I’ve got presents!” he called, setting his pack down and opening it. He pulled something out, something in a leather sheath. “Skinner, this one’s for you. Stitches, I’ve got a jar of some potion the apothecary in Tantervale swore by.”

“This is a poultice, ser,” the human turning the spits answered as he accepted the jar.

“Eh, whatever. Rocky, some new flint and steel for you.”

_Skinner? Stitches? Rocky?_ Who _were_ these people, with names like that? What had the blond elf called the biggest one? Iron Bull? What kind of a name was _that?_

Tanni kept hidden as the big one kept handing out gifts. Finally, he’d finished, and he sat down at the fire and pronounced, “I’m starving. What’s for eating?”

The human, Stitches, described the pheasant on one spit, the rabbit on the other, the venison stew bubbling away in the pot. “Dalish is a pretty good hunter with her–bow.” He shot a look at another elf, who batted her eyelashes innocently as she twirled a staff in her hands.

“Gimme some of the stew,” the big one said as the horned woman sat down next to him. She said something in a voice quiet enough that Tanni couldn’t hear it, and Stitches nodded and pulled a leg off of the pheasant to hand to her. Tanni swallowed, telling her body angrily to stop salivating so badly.

“So, you want some or not?”

Tanni didn’t know who the big one was speaking to. No one seemed to answer him as he said, “I’m talking to you.”

Tanni’s heart nearly stopped when he turned around and looked directly at her. “You hungry?” he asked, fixing her with that one eye. Suddenly, instead of cheerful, he seemed calculating. It was a frightening transition. “You can come out. No one here’s gonna hurt you.”

Tanni shrank back–and bumped into someone. She whirled to find the blond elf standing behind her with one eyebrow raised. She hadn’t even heard him sneak up. “You are quite the little tracker,” he said. “I did not even notice you were following us until we were out of the alienage, I am ashamed to admit. Arié knew you were there from the first, it would seem.”

As if on cue, the smaller elf, no longer hooded, appeared from behind another tree. They took three steps toward Tanni and sank to their knees, holding out their hand.

Tanni blurted the first words that came to mind. “You’re a mage?”

The elf looked like they were laughing, but no sound came from them. Tanni realized that they hadn’t heard a single word from this elf. Were they mute? They nodded, signing something with their hand.

“Ari would like to know who _you_ are,” the blond elf said, leaning back against the tree that had been Tanni’s hiding place. “Do not worry. As the Iron Bull said, we are not in the business of killing young elves who follow us to our camp unless they happen to be assassins. Are you an assassin?”

Tanni shook her head vigorously. “I’m sorry I followed you!” she blurted.

“Don’t be,” the blond elf assured her. “What is your name?” He moved to sit casually against the tree.

She waited a moment, making sure there was really no ill intent in them, before she answered in a small voice, “Tanni.”

“A pretty name for a pretty child,” the blond one said, a definite note of kindness in his voice. “I am Zevran. This is my spouse, Arié. Most call us Zev and Ari.”

“What’s spouse mean?”

Zevran laughed. “It means I am Ari’s husband, and we are married.” He nodded to Arié’s outstretched hand. “Go on.”

Tanni reached out, a little hesitantly, and put their hand in Arié’s. Immediately, light flared around both of them, and Tanni helped and yanked her hand back. But Ari held tight, studying the light around Tanni. Finally, they let go, the light dimmed, and they signed something to Zevran.

Zevran nodded thoughtfully. “Is she, now?” He fixed his look on Tanni. “It seems Ari is not the only mage of our little threesome.”

Tanni looked down as she shook her head.

“How long have you had your magic?”

“Maybe a year,” she murmured. “It was summer when I got it, and it’s summer now…”

“And you escaped Templars all that time? In a city that adheres so strictly to the Chantry? Impressive,” Zevran commented. “Did your parents hide you?”

“I don’t…I don’t got parents.”

“Ah.” Zevran shared a look with Arié for only a second before he asked, “How would you like to come with us?”

Tanni looked back up at him, shocked. “What?”

“We would protect you from the Templars. Ari and I are close friends of the King and Queen of Ferelden, you see, and Saraan–the Iron Bull’s partner–used to be one of the Inquisitors, so we do hold some significant sway, I like to think. We can keep you safe. Ari can teach you magic, and I–” he reached out to tap Tanni’s upturned nose with a finger, and to her own surprise, she did not shy away, “–can teach you how better to stay silent and unseen when tailing someone.” He held out his hand for a shake. “What do you say, Tanni?”

Tanni looked over her shoulder at Arié, who smiled and nodded. They had violet eyes, Tanni noticed, violet eyes that held no hint of lie or malice.

She turned back to Zevran and shook his hand firmly. He grinned. “Welcome to the Bull’s Chargers, Tanni.”


	2. Ari and Zev

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I don't need taking care of."

"Well, she certainly eats like a Charger!" Rocky laughed as Tanni tossed the pheasant's empty leg bone into the fire, wiping her mouth with her sleeve.

Zevran's eyes darted to Arié, and they nodded just a little. He knew they saw the same thing he did. _She eats like someone who doesn't know when her next meal will be._

"Slow it down a bit, kid," the Iron Bull cautioned as Tanni reached for the bowl of soup he was ladling out. "We don't need you bursting on us."

"Chief," Krem called. "We staying the night?"

"Yeah, might as well," Bull answered, taking his eyes off Tanni for only a second. "We'll move on in the morning."

"Kirkwall, I think," Saraan added, also keeping a subtle eye on their new ward. "We'll want to get this one somewhere stable."

Tanni glanced up from her stew. "Who, me?"

"No, Jacky was injured in our last fight," Saraan lied smoothly, flicking a glance to the Charger in question, who immediately put a hand to their side and faked a grimace of pain.

Tanni looked to Jacky as well, and she was frowning when she looked back at Saraan. "I don't believe you," she informed Saraan frankly.

Saraan raised an eyebrow, even as her son climbed her to get a look over her shoulder at the new kid. "That so?" she drawled. "Keep that skepticism, Tanni. It'll keep you alive. Probably has already, for that matter."

Tanni frowned harder at the unfamiliar word, but before she could say anything, Saraan's son broke in, "Who's this, Ma? She got pointy ears like me!"

Without looking, Saraan used her own hand to push down her son's pointing finger. "Tash, this is Tanni. She's coming back to Kirkwall with us. Tanni, this is our son Ataashi."

"'Our'?" Tanni echoed.

"You're sharp," Bull complimented. "Tash is my kid too. Right, Tash?" He grinned at his son, and Tash returned the same grin in miniature.

Tanni looked from one smile to the other and nodded, apparently satisfied. "What about you?" she asked Zevran and Arié. "You got any kids?"

Ari shook their head, and Zevran said quietly, "Ari…cannot bear children. Unless we adopt, it is unlikely we will ever have a child of our own."

"Adopt?" Tanni repeated. "'S that mean?"

Zevran took a moment to regard this intelligent child who had evaded even his detection as she followed them. "It's when an adult—or a couple, say, like Ari and myself—takes in and takes care of a child who needs taking care of." He considered for a moment, glancing at Arié before adding softly, "A child like you, perhaps."

"I don't need taking care of," Tanni answered dismissively.

—

It had taken nearly an hour to convince Tanni to even lie down, that it was safe to do so, and another hour for her to actually, finally fall asleep. Arié sat beside her, gently brushing a bit of straight brown hair out of Tanni's face to study the snub nose, the skin only a shade or two lighter than her hair, the fine chin and cheekbones.

"If she lives long enough to grow up, she will be a great beauty," Zevran commented.

Ari arched one brow at their husband. _If?_ they signed.

“Ari, you should know that it’s a rare thing for someone in her situation to live that long,” Zevran cautioned, sitting down on Tanni’s other side.

_Maybe she can be the rare one._

“She has been incredibly lucky so far,” Zevran murmured, laying his hand gently on Tanni’s shoulder.

Ari laid their hand over Zevran’s, and when he looked up, a small smile graced their face before they signed, _If there’s something you want to ask me, you don’t need to be afraid of asking it, Zev._ They signed his name not just with the quick zigzagging finger of a _Z,_ but with a soft, quick kiss to their fingertip after. The first time they had done that, both of them had been a full sixteen years younger, and Zev’s heart had skipped a beat. Even now, so long since, he still welled with affection at the sight of that tiny kiss.

“Even without the Taint now, you still cannot—and do not want to—bear children, correct?”

Ari nodded, and Zev had the feeling that, even as he struggled with his next words, Ari knew them before he said them—maybe even before he knew them. “Then…perhaps it is we who are the lucky ones in finding Tanni—or in Tanni finding us, as the case seems to be.”

He looked up again when Ari touched his shoulder. _You want to adopt her._ The signs were simple, and he knew them, but Ari surprised him by not simply bringing their hands upward on _adopt._ Instead, they drew the sign to their heart.

Zevran felt something in his own chest swell. “Yes,” he said. “Yes, I do.”

Ari smiled. _I want it too._

Zevran held out an arm, and Arié moved to sit beside him, their head on his shoulder, as they both watched Tanni’s skinny body rise and fall with her breath. “We’ve all been fortunate thus far,” Zev murmured. “Why not a little longer?”

—

“I don’t need taking care of,” Tanni said again as the Chargers broke camp. “I can take care of myself.”

“Clearly,” Zevran said, no trace of a laugh or any other condescension on his face. “But taking care of yourself with no help can take a toll.”

“I’m _fine,_ ” Tanni insisted. “I don’t need taking care of; I was just curious. I’ve never seen anyone like you in Tantervale.”

“Must be quite the boring place,” Zevran said dryly before he could stop himself. Tanni scowled.

“It’s a shithole, but it’s my _home,_ ” she insisted. “And I dunno if I wanna leave it yet.”

Zevran had his mouth open to speak again before Ari put a cautioning hand in front of him and signed to him. He sighed. “Speak, _mi amor._ I will translate.”

Ari looked to Tanni again, their violet eyes serious, and began to sign. _Tantervale is right on the border with Tevinter. In all likelihood, you’ll be captured someday, sooner or later._

“No, I won’t,” Tanni snapped. “I’m smart, and I’m fast, and I know things. Smarter than those templars, and faster than the slavers.”

Ari let out a breath that was nearly a sigh. _There’s a saying in Ferelden. “You have to escape the wolf every time you go through the woods, but the wolf only needs to catch you once.”_

“The wolf never caught you,” Tanni said.

“It did,” Zevran said quietly. “It caught both of us.”

Tanni was about to object before she noticed Arié’s hand curling around Zevran’s and their eyes meeting. Zevran’s eyebrows were drawn together, but not in anger. Something else, something Tanni didn’t have the word for. Ari signed something at him, and he gave a halfhearted laugh.

“What?” Tanni demanded.

“Ari says we were the lucky ones. We got away from the wolf eventually. And we just…we want to make sure the wolf never gets you.”

There was silence between the three of them for a while. Finally, a smile crinkled Arié’s eyes, and they signed something that made Zevran make a sound between a sigh and a laugh.

“What?” Tanni asked again. “I don’t understand the hand-sign things.”

Zevran raised an eyebrow at her. “Ari would like to know if you are testing us.”

Tanni deflated a little, and she looked down at the grass her toes were curling into. “I just wanted to make sure you meant it,” she said softly. “No one ever has before.”

“Someone offered to adopt you before?” Zevran asked, guessing at the answer.

“They said they’d take care of me—and then tried to bring me back to Tevinter with them.” Tanni didn’t look at them as she said quietly, “They’re dead now.”

“What happened?” Zevran asked, softer than anything Tanni had heard him say before.

“I found out who they were when I found a bunch of escaped slaves locked up in the other cart. I’d seen ‘em before. They’d tried to come through Tantervale to get away, but they just got caught again. They saw me, and they were just…I don’t know. Scared for me, I guess.” Tanni kicked at the grass her toes had pulled up. “That was when my magic showed up. When I realized what was happening, I…I guess I snapped. I blew up the slavers’ wagon, and I ran back to Tantervale.”

“You’re sure they’re dead?”

“I heard talk about a bunch of slavers found dead on the road. They didn’t know what happened, and I didn’t tell ‘em. But that’s how I know when the slavers show up. They always follow the ones who escaped. If someone escapes and comes to Tantervale, I know it’s time to hide.”

Arié’s arms were skinny, yes, but Tanni had never felt anything as powerful as the hug in which Ari enveloped her. Their arms held her tight, warmth blossoming between them, and Tanni was strangely, suddenly certain: Ari and Zev would take care of her. Not like the slavers had said they would. Not even like she had fended for herself. Ari and Zev would give her not just survival, but a life.

Arié stepped back after several seconds, leaving Tanni dazed and a little cold. “What was that?” she asked blearily.

Zevran raised an eyebrow at his spouse, and Ari signed something that made him laugh softly. “Arié, you know not to communicate like that without the person knowing about it first.”

Ari gave him a momentary sheepish expression before looking back to Tanni and simply holding out their hand. Zev spoke for both of them: “Tanni, may we adopt you?”

Tanni looked from one to the other, from Zevran’s level expression to Arié’s kind violet eyes, back to Zevran and the way he looked at Ari and to Ari’s sole small hoop earring that was the only piece of gold they wore.

Tanni made her decision.

She put her hand in Arié’s and said, “Yes.”

—

Tanni sat tall on the wagon the Chargers’ mules pulled, a tiny queen on her supply-filled carriage. She surveyed her new, mobile domain from beside her driver, Grim, who shot amused looks at her every few seconds. She watched everything, still a little wary—Tash clambering up to stand on the Iron Bull’s shoulders, using his father’s horns to steady himself; Jacky cartwheeling every once in a while “just to break up the boring”; Zevran taking Arié’s hand and swinging it back and forth as they walked and he called to Tanni, “How is the view?”

“It’s good,” Tanni answered, a little absently, watching Tash make the jump from Bull’s shoulders to Saraan’s and noting the way Saraan subtly stepped closer to Bull just before Tash leapt. She guessed that Tash had made that same jump many times before.

An idea took root in her mind, and she nudged Grim. When he looked at her with a questioning eyebrow raised, she tilted her head toward Zev and Ari and leaned up to whisper in his ear. Grim nodded and tapped the mules’ reins, clicking his tongue at them, and they began to pick up their pace.

The wagon drew closer to Zev and Ari, and Tanni slowly stood, a hand clutching Grim’s shoulder to keep herself steady. She waited…she waited…

Zevran turned, mouth open to say something, as the wagon drew up beside him.

She jumped.

All of them went down, Tanni on Zevran on Ari, with much surprise and yelping. “What was _that?_ ” Zevran asked when he got his breath and his wits back.

“Tash did it,” Tanni said, hopping back to her feet. “I wanted to see if I could too.”

Zevran, for once, was dumbstruck, even as Ari hid a smile. “Well, for one,” he finally stammered before regaining his usual loquacity, “Tash is smaller than you are. And second, his parents are much, much larger than—well, us.” He considered, then amended, “His parents are much larger than yours.”

Tanni’s face was moving toward a confused frown once again when she froze. Slowly, slowly, the corners of her mouth drew up, and finally she shrieked happily and threw herself back on Zevran and Arié, tossing her arms around their necks and hugging for all she was worth. Something warm was starting in her chest, something centered around one word Zevran had said: _parents._

She had parents.


End file.
